AoV Customs

AoV CUSTOMS Official Website: Arms of Valor.com Manufactured in: USA Steels Used: See below Edge/Sharpness: See below Price Range: See below

From top: Jason and Brian from AoV

Until recently, owning a custom sword was something that only the most affluent of collectors could aspire to. There is just something about having a sword that is truly yours, that is unique to you and you alone. Every hero in every great fantasy novel has had their distinctive personal weapon – from Aragorn’s Anduril in the Lord of the Rings, to King Arthur’s Excalibur, to the distinctive scimitars of the dark elf Drizzt in R.A. Salvatore’s novels, these weapons are as much a part of these heroes as their winning good looks.

But having someone make a sword custom for you is an expensive proposition. Most places don’t start selling custom swords for under $1000, and some can go as high as 8, 9 or 10 thousand. And while plenty of good quality inexpensive manufacturers can make wonderful swords, they simply can’t afford to make every sword unique (which is how they are able to stay so cheap in the first place!).

That’s where the Arms of Valor Custom Shop comes in. While not technically a manufacturer – they are more of a “re-manufacturer”, modifying swords made by other companies – they do put in long hours at their shop to remake each sword to order. From resizing the handles and wrapping them and the scabbards in leather or suede to adding fine metal detailing to pommels, scabbard throats and elsewhere, each piece is very unique and done exactly how the customer wants. And all of this from a vendor that sells primarily sub-300$ swords – the only one in the market to do so.

MAIN PRODUCT LINES

HANDLES: Some manufacturers have difficultly, after producing blades of good quality, making handles to match them. These handles can be too big, have poor stitching or even too slick to hold after the hand gets a bit sweaty. To solve this, AoV removes the old handle covering and then resizes the grip to fit the customer’s hands. They then apply risers to aid in keeping one’s grasp, and finally wrap the handle in leather or suede of the buyer’s choice. All of this is done for an average fee of $40 for labour and materials.

POMMELS: Many swords have a simple but attractive pommel, such as a wheel or a disc. AoV has a number of options for improving upon the plain manufacturer’s designs should it not appeal to potential customers. They offer several different metal detailing that can be applied to both sides of the pommel, with Celtic, leaf and cross designs. Applying pommel detailing costs $20.

SCABBARDS: Depending on the company that makes it, most swords have a plain leather or wood core with leather scabbard. The AoV customs shop will re-do some of these scabbards, stripping off the old leather and putting leather or suede that matches the refinished handle on it. The material is custom cut and fitted to each scabbard, with stitching on the backside. They offer three options – the Squire model, which is simply the matching handle material applied for $60; the Nobleman model, which has leather or suede strips and the metal pommel detailing applied in addition to the base colour change for $90; and the King, which has the detailing with a 2-tone base scabbard colour that is very attractive for $140.

KNOWN ISSUES

As this is a new service that has been around just since the very end of 2007, there have been no issues that have arisen at this time. Obviously the prices of the swords that are being retouched will be higher than the base price – a sword with handle, pommel and scabbard detailing could cost up to $220 more than the base price, which depending on the model is about the same price as the sword. However, this is a far cry from the $1000+ normally needed to have a custom sword of similar craftsmanship and beauty made. It remains to be seen what this will do to the market in the coming year, but considering the amount of buzz since they have made their announcements it seems that they will be very busy.

INTERVIEWS

SMG Interview - Feb 2008

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